'I'm here to say goodbye to my girlfriend'
'You can't be. I'm saying goodbye to my girlfriend.'
The two boys look at each other in shock and confusion as a laugh rings out from the portly middle-aged woman behind them.
'Oh Maxeen' she says. 'Who else would get themselves into a mess like this? Which of you is coming in? Both? Neither?' She pushes her way in front of them. 'I'm her mother, that's her brother, that's her brother's fiancee, the girls behind them are her best friends and these are her boyfriends,' she informs the bemused Peacekeeper, who steps aside to let them all pass.
As they enter, the fourteen year old girl on the couch buries her head in her hands. Ray and Thane aren't meant to know about each other, yet here they are in the same room. Along with her entire family and her girlfriends to witness her humiliation. This is definitely the worst day of her life. Possibly the worst day of anyone's life, ever.
'Max?' says Ray, bewildered. She just knows he'll be wearing that injured puppy look and she can't bring herself to look at him. She utters a low groan into her cupped hands. 'What's going on?'
'Tell him, Max,' Thane cuts in. 'Tell him you're with me now.'
'Maxeen, talk to me, please,' begs Ray.
Maxeen feels the cushion dip as her mother plonks herself on her left side. 'I think you've got some explaining to do,' she chuckles.
'Just tell me what's going on here,' Ray wheedles, and Maxeen's patience snaps.
'I got reaped, duh. Like I don't have enough to deal without you guys pestering me. I just got fricking REAPED, people. Cut me some slack.'
'I'm not pestering you, babe,' says Thane. 'It's this punk here who's causing the trouble...'
Ray is outraged. 'Um, I'm not the one causing trouble. Me and Max have been together for six weeks now...'
'Woo. Do you want a medal?'
'No, I just want to know what the hell is going on!'
Maxeen's mother laughs again and nudges her daughter conspiratorially. 'I think this is what they call busted, sweetie.'
'Shut up.' Maxeen scowls and rakes her fingers through her tangled auburn hair. It looked so nice this morning, but she's been fiddling with it all day and now it looks like she's been dragged through a hedge. It was stressful enough being in the town square, knowing both the boys were there and might seek her out later - she deliberately rolled up late so that there was no risk of one seeing her with the other before the Reaping began - and then her name was pulled out of the bowl, as if to punish her for two-timing. Fortunately, everyone in District Five is way too scared of the Peacekeepers to call out to the tributes, so nobody shouted out they loved her or anything embarrassing like that.
It's not even her fault. Thane approached her when she was hanging out after work with her friends, and he was hot, and what was she going to do, turn him down because of Ray? She was sort of planning to finish with Ray even before she hooked up with Thane. He's kind of clingy and she isn't ready to get serious with anyone yet. The trouble is, whenever she plans to break up with him he does something sweet, or even just looks at her with his puppy dog eyes, and she can't bring herself to do it.
Ugh. And now the Capitol has decided that she can't have either of them and they're both going to hate her forever. OK, so having two boys on the go at once is shady behavior, but it's hardly a capital crime. She doesn't deserve to be a tribute, she doesn't deserve to die. It's so unfair.
Maxeen starts to cry - angry, hiccuping sobs - and then everyone seems to remember where they are and why they're there, and nobody seems to know what to say anymore. Her friend Blaze whisks Ray off into a corner to give him the lowdown about Thane, and Maxeen has a vision of her comforting Ray when she's gone, putting dibs on him before she's even on the train, and it makes her so mad she wants to scream. Her mom keeps laughing like a moron and pretending to believe she's going to win the entire Hunger Games... 'Well, you're a sly one, aren't you? Just play the boys off against each other, hahaha!'
And Thane just looks sad. She never wanted it to end like this. They always had fun. If she could only just kiss him one last time... but she doesn't want to rub Ray's nose in it, and she doesn't want to give Blaze any more reasons to comfort him, and she knows she looks like hell anyway, all red-faced and snotty-nosed and messy-haired.
It kills her that this is how they'll remember her. It's so unfair.
The mood in District Ten is rather less somber than it usually is at this time. Jenzen Brock is the best chance they have had of winning this past decade. As he sits down to wait for his family and friends, the applause and cheers of the crowd are still ringing in his ears. He's always been popular, but not this much. It didn't escape his notice that a number of girls started crying when his name was called, and now the hopes of the entire district are riding upon his shoulders.
It's a big responsibility; which he's only made worse for himself by grabbing the microphone and promising to bring District Ten the victory this year. He just got caught up in the moment, and wanted to make everyone feel better about him getting picked.
It seems to have worked. Here's his dad, his brothers, his classmates, all the guys from the farm... Jenzen has a brief pang thinking of his horse, Daystar. She's not much to look at, and hardly taller than he is, but when he's in the saddle trotting over the pastures that's the most free he ever feels. All he did when he said goodbye this morning was slap her briskly on the rump, assuming that he'd see her again tomorrow. It was his fourth reaping day, and people get blase about these things.
Before he knows what's happening, he is hoisted aloft and seated on his brothers' shoulders as everyone bursts into the traditional District Ten song 'All McDonalds have a farm', making the animal noises with gusto. By the time they've got through all the livestock, the Peacekeepers are already at the door. There's barely time for his mom to run in, hug him and whisper 'If anyone can win for us, it's you. Get hold of a rope and nobody will be able to stop you.'
It's true. Nobody needs a rope to lasso cattle any more - modern breeds are too obese to walk and wait patiently in sheds for slaughter, fed by drips and injected with whatever exotic flavors the Capitol demands - but rope skills are still prized, and useful for showing off at weddings and such. Jenzen is a champ. He can noose a tree stump at twenty paces and wrench it out of the ground. He can catch a horse. Shouldn't be too hard to catch a tribute.
And then what?
He works on a farm, he reminds himself. He's looked into the docile brown eyes of the calves as their throats are cut, before they're hung upside down to bleed slowly to death so the Capitol's veal can have the pale color they prize. Cutting the throat of a career tribute is basically the same thing, right? It's what they've been reared for.
He hugs his mom tightly. 'Nobody can stop me anyway. I promised everyone I'd win, and I always keep my word.'
'Come on, guys.' A Peacekeeper peels his mom out of his arms. 'The train's ready to leave.'
Jenzen squares up, casts one last look at the people he's leaving behind him. 'We're going to have one hell of a party when I get back!' he shouts, and then he's gone.
The other District Ten tribute is already sitting on the train, waiting. Her eyes are red, her dark brown hair is scraped back into a ponytail and she twists a checkered handkerchief around her fingers.
'Hey Beka,' says Jenzen cheerfully. 'Goodbyes are rough, huh?'
She looks at him coldly. 'My dad thinks you're going to win,' she says.
Jenzen grins. 'That's the plan.'
'Great. Even my own district is rooting for me to die.'
The smile dies on Jenzen's lips. 'Beka, nobody's hoping...'
'Only one of us can make it back home. And I think we've all established it's not going to be me.' She casts her eyes down to the floor. 'My dad has some crazy idea that you might be able to look after me. Like he doesn't understand there's only one winner. I have to die for you to win.'
Jenzen can't think of any response to this. He can't argue. Everything she says is true.
'Don't feel too bad,' says Beka. 'Nobody from our district ever wins anyway. I guess it'd be nice if things were different this year, but to be honest I don't really care. Not as if I'll be around to see it.'
Wow. Way to put a downer on things.
'So, no chance of an alliance then?'
Beka shrugs as the train begins to move. 'It'd keep my dad happy and make everyone love you even more. Why not?'
